[ricki]

This rider was incredibly fortunate to survive and hopefully fully recover after such a dramatic lofting. Traveling perhaps in excess of 600 ft. through impacts against multiple hard objects while narrowly missing even harder fixed objects is miraculous. Flying a foot to the side at anyone of a number of impacts could have potentially been fatal. Riders have been killed striking far few obstacles and traveling over much shorter distances. It is a testament to his excellent health, youth and remarkable good fortune to recover at such dazzling speed.

Kiting is all about fun. Like so much else in life you need to train, learn the ropes and practice good techniques to reap the enjoyment while attempting to reduce the odds of misadventure. Many activities can result in grievous injury, driving, flying, diving, skiing, etc.. We reduce the odds of such negative consequences by approaching these activities prudently with proper training, preparation, suitable gear and judgment.

If despite all preparation you are lofted, immediately emergency depower your kite. You may have only one chance to do this. In reality kiters often have more than one opportunity to activate their emergency depower. Most often they never even try due to shock and lack of time and perhaps familarity with their gear. Rehearse emergency depowering procedures frequently.

The availability and low cost of used gear can be both a good and a bad thing. People can readily buy used gear from Internet sites but may lack any appreciation for the hazards, procedures, safety gear and other essential information that ideally would be conveyed at a kiteboarding store. They may further be self-deceived that adequate, quality professional lessons are unnecessary. It's just a big kite, right? I can figure it out and so it goes, not good. Kiting is a lot more demanding in terms of knowledge, skills and judgement than it may outwardly appear. Online used kite gear vendors would do well to attempt to inform clients of some of the realities of the sport and necessity of proper professional training.